PORTLAND (AP) — A New York artist is looking for old fishing line — a million feet of it — from Maine lobstermen for a huge sculpture that will be put on display in a New York City park. The Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation has been contacting lobstermen in Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island […]

AUGUSTA (AP) — A man who participated in the Occupy Augusta demonstration has been sentenced to jail for threatening a man with a knife. Anthony Williams pleaded guilty Monday in Kennebec County Superior Court to criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon. The Kennebec Journal reports that he was sentenced to three years in jail, with […]

ATLANTA — Mitt Romney is angling to solidify his front-runner status and Rick Santorum to keep it a two-man race as voters in 10 states put Super Tuesday’s imprint on the Republican presidential race. Newt Gingrich just hopes to keep his struggling campaign alive with a strong showing in Georgia. Voters who turned out early today […]

WASHINGTON ( AP) — President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ended two days of public posturing on Iran right where they began. Obama wants Israel to refrain from attacking Iran now, and Netanyahu pointedly refused to make that promise. Obama never made a direct, public appeal to Israel’s visiting leader, but his […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The top U. S. commander in the Middle East will warn Congress today against efforts to scale back the Navy’s presence in the embattled region, saying threats from Iran and elsewhere will require more ships and maritime missile defense capabilities. Marine Gen. James Mattis, head of U. S. Central Command, also said […]

BEIRUT (AP) — China’s special envoy to Syria is expected to press authorities for a cease-fire to end the country’s crisis today even as Beijing remains firmly opposed to any foreign intervention in the Mideast country. Li Huaqing, a former Chinese ambassador to Syria, will meet with government officials during his two-day visit. He is […]

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — U.S. military investigators have recommended that four more American troops be court-martialed in connection with the suicide of their fellow infantryman who shot himself in a guard tower in southern Afghanistan, the U.S. military said today. The four are among eight U.S. soldiers charged in the death of Pvt. Danny Chen, […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy is improving faster than economists had expected. They now foresee slightly stronger growth and hiring than they did two months earlier — trends that would help President Barack Obama’s re-election hopes. Those are among the findings of an Associated Press survey late last month of leading economists. The economists […]